By Justin Feil, Packet Media Group
Paige Novak was knocked into the dunk tank too many times to count at the Hillsborough Rotary Fair, but she looked at it as another chance to bond with her teammates.
The Hillsborough High School senior is hoping those chances pay off in the long run as she prepared for her final season of cross country with the Raider girls team. The Raiders have been spending time together running and even away from practice.
“I definitely think it helps,” Novak said. “I think once you’re thinking of other people more, when you’re running for your teammates, that’s something powerful. The more you’re around each other and more you see each other, it’s going to help you bond.”
On Tuesday, the team heard a talk focused on nutrition from Impact Training owner and head trainer Hillarie Scannelli. On runs, with no school during the day over the summer, the team starts to build its bonds at a variety of locations. They mix up the training runs to go to different sites, including Holmdel Park, the annual site of the Meet of Champions.
“We were at the Columbia Trail (in High Bridge) the other day,” Novak said. “We’ve gone to a lot of different venues. We’ve been to Holmdel a bunch of times. We try to go to other places than the high school because we’ll be there all the time once school starts.”
Novak is one of six girls who return for a Raiders team that placed second overall at the Meet of Champions last year. Also back are Stephanie Mauer, Kelly Cianciola, Courtney Skikus, Olivia DeLorenzo and Peri Bongiovanni from last year’s top seven that ran the MOC. Only Molly Doyle graduated from the top seven. That returning experience gives them a good starting point for this season, and the Raiders are making efforts to draw even closer with team building and bonding experiences.
“Everyone from last year was really close,” said Novak, who placed 13th individually at the MOC. “Coming back, it’s good having that comfort level. At the same time, there are so many people that can move up. It’s not set in stone (who is in the top seven). We’ve just trying to have a good team atmosphere for anyone.”
The summer has been good for the Raiders. They got together for voluntary workouts four times per week on their own and they have elevated their mileage at a steady rate. The girls are working at building their base without any giant jumps that would leave them open to injury.
“I don’t know the exact mileage,” Novak said. “It’s building up. And there’s more hard stuff coming soon.
“I think everyone is trying to stay healthy and be smart. My spring track didn’t go as planned. I was out for a couple months. I think everyone is thinking positive and we don’t want to jeopardize it with some crazy runs.”
Novak comes off her best cross country season, but at the tail end of the winter indoor season she developed a hip injury. It shelved her for the start of the spring track season, though she was able to run for the 4×400 relay that reached the MOC before shifting gears to training for cross country.
“It ended well,” Novak said of her spring. “I was happy to be a part of that relay.
“I took off two weeks in between spring and summer training. Our program is good in that you’re not just jumping into 12-mile runs. I think I’m progressing well.”
The Raiders won’t even begin to seriously look at their progress for a while. They open the season Sept. 9, but the emphasis won’t be on the early meets but the latter state competitions.
“We’re not going to know where we’re at until October,” said Hillsborough head coach Rich Refi. “That’s probably the first time we’ll get an idea where we’re at. It’s mostly base training now.”
The Raiders are mixing up their training sites and keeping things fresh. They know by the end of the season that they need to know well the Holmdel course and how to handle it. There are high expectations to get there and to perform well.
“Every year is a new year,” Refi said. “We just do what we can with this team.”
The Hillsborough cross country team has some lofty expectations, and they will need contributions from all their runners to meet them. It’s why the Raiders are finding new areas to run, new activities to share and a bright outlook ahead.
“We’re going to try to have some team bonding before the preseason ends,” Novak said. “And try to have spirit days on the days of meets, and that will eventually help us in the long run.”
